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ASGHAR ALI - STANDING ALONE IN ASHBOURNE

The stark white headstone at the grave of Asghar Ali in the main cemetery at Ashbourne

It is not uncomon for a man to stand apart in life - either prodigious talent or infamous villainy mark certain individuals out from the otherwise homogenous mass.

But it is less common to stand apart in death, when the serried ranks of gravestones impart to all men that inevitable degree of parity they may not have experienced in life.

Yet one who does stand apart, literally, is the Muslim soldier Asghar Ali, whose gravestone in Ashbourne's main cemetery is sited separately from the rest, and faces a different direction.

Asghar Ali was born in India in 1903. During World War Two he served as a farrier in the Royal Indian Army Service Corps, which for a time was encamped at Osmaston Park, near Shirley, Derbyshire.

While there, Asghar Ali was kicked by a horse while fixing a shoe. After complications set in, he developed pneumonia, and died soon thereafter, on 13 September 1940, aged ony 37.

His gravestone faces Mecca, the stark white headstone in a quiet corner a poignant reminder that here lies a man who died far from home in the most unlikely confines of rural Derbyshire, while serving the British Empire.

This grave is one of a growing number listed in the Grave Matters series on this site begun by local historian Peter Seddon. To see the full list, or to add to it, go to Grave Matters - Who is buried where in Derbyshire?.

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County:  Derbyshire

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